Art of treating petroleum oils



Nov. 1924. v I 1,514,098

I C. PALMER ART OF TREATING PETROLEUM OILS Filed July 5. 1917 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. S. PALMER ART OF TREATING PETROLEUM OILS Nov. 4, 1924. 1,514,093

Filed July 5. 1917 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 4,1924.

STA -Es? PATENT Fries.

CHARLES s. PALMER, F PITTsBUnGH, PENNSYLVANiA, AssIGNo-R To STANDARD OIL ooMPANY, on CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA,

.ART OF TREATING PETROLEUM 'oILs.

Application filed July 5, .1917. Y Serial No. 178,609.

To all whom it may) concern:

Be'it known that 1, CHARLES S. PALMER a citizen of the United States, residing'at Pittsburgh, in the county of Alleghenyand State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Art of Treating Petroleum Oils, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the art of treating petroleum oil and more'particularly tothe pyrogenetic decomposition of relatively heavy petroleum products, to produce relatively light products of the character of gasoline. The invention will be fully understood from the following specification taken .in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which' I Figure 1 is a side'elevation partly in section and partly diagrammatic of one form of apparatus adapted for the practice of my invention, and Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a paratus. I V 3 Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral" 10 in Figure 1 designates a coal-burning furnace of ordinary type, having mountedtherein a plurality of tubes 11, which extend between front and rear headers 12 and 13 respectively, the tubes being preferably arranged at a slight inclination. as shown in the drawings, At a considerable distance above the furnace 10 there is supported a horizontal drum 14, which is connected with the headers 12 and 1 3 by vertical conduits 15 of relatively large size. An upwardly-inclined vapor pipe 16 is tapped into the top of the drum 14 and to the outer end of. this vapor pipe there is connected a condenser line 17 which leads down-.

wardly to an ordinary water-cooled condenser 18. The latter isarranged todrain-into a receiving drum 19 provided at the top and bottom with valved liquid and gas escape pipes 20 and 21, respectively.

In the operation of theapparatus above described a charge of relatively high boiling point petroleum products, such, for example, as the residue known as fuel oil or gas oil, is introduced into the drum 14, partially filling the latter and wholly filling the vertical conduits 15, headers 12 and 13 and tubes 11."

- It is to be noted that the drum 14 is mounted modified form .of apat'some very, considerable distance above the tubes 11, so that an appreciable hydrostatic pressure is developed within the latter by the liquid head alone. If, for example, the

vertical conduits or risers 15 are seventy feet in height, a hydrostatic pressure of the order of'tWo. atmospheres will exist within the tubes 11.

The furnace 10 being fired, the'oil within the tubes 11 becomes heated and, the liquid level being maintained at some intermediate point in the drunrl l, a. thermoesiphon cir culation of the oil in the system will beset up, according to the well understood man-- tion of any vapors, and under such elevated temperature the oil within the tubes will certain proportion of relatively'low boiling point products will be formed in the liquid suffer pyrogenesis, as the result'of which a body. The liquid mass passing upward in the front riser 15 will, therefore, be of-dif- .ferent composition from that passing down-1 wardly in the rear riser 15. In its passage upward the partially decomposed or cracked oil' will become. cooler, through the radiation I from the unlagged front riser 15, so that the temperature of the oil body in thedrum 14 will be perceptibly lower than the temperature in th'etubes 11. This temperature will nevertheless be sufficiently high to-avoid conlower boiling point products of the re-ac- -.Clensing, or to cause the evaporation of the tion, i. e., the gasoline-like products, and

the vapors of such products will be continuously evolved from the surface of the liquid in the drum 14, and will pass outwardly through the pipe 16. 'They will here be subjected to a selective condensing action, as the result of which their heavy or less volatile constituents will return to the liquid state and drain, backwardly into the drum. The

companied by any incondensable gases which may be formed during the process, passes-into the receiving drum 19, the liquid portion thereof being drained off-dontmuing in the system becomes so refractory or so filled with suspended carbon as to make it, uneconomical and dangerous to continue. The system may then be drained, cleaned and a fresh charge of oil introduced.

Instead of depending wholly upon the hydrostatic head for obtaining ,the required pressure by which the cracking temperature is attained in the tubes 11, the pressure may be produced in part by the gases of distillation. Thus, if the oil is of a character which produces a considerable volume of incondensable re-action products, such as methane, ethylene and the like, such products inay be confined within the system by closing the valve in the gas-escape pipe 21 and any desired operating pressure may thereby be built upand maintained by the proper regulation of this valve. For example, if' it is desired to operate with a pressure of five atmospheres in the cracking tubes 11, this pressure may be produced by theuse of an apparatus giving a liquid head of [approximately seventy feet, and thereafter, regulating the valve in the gas-es.- cape pipe 21 to produce a gas pressure of three atmospheres upon the free surface of the liquid in the drum 14;.

In Figure 2 I have shown a modified form of apparatus, including a furnace 30, ar-

ranged to heat a horizontal? cylindrical converter 31. From the top of the converter a pipe 32. leads to a coil 33, the said pipe and coil being of relatively small diameter to provide "fa considerable resistance to the flow of liquid. The discharge .end of the co l 33 opens into a. release drum 34, and from the bottom of. the latter a return pipe is led to the inlet side of a power-driven 36, the discharge line 37 of which comlqmmcates with the base of the converter 31, and preferablyat the end opposite the pipe 32.

The release drum 34 has a vapor outlet pipe 16 of the same form as the pipe 16 of'Figure'l, and communicateswith a condenser 18 and receiving apparatus 19 of the form. heretofore described. 4

In the apparatus shown in Figure 2, a

considerable liquid pressure is constantly :mainta'ined within the converter 31, this pressure being variable by varying the speed of the-pump 36. The furnace 30 being fired,

the oil-body within the converter 31 may therefore be raised to a temperature greatly exceeding its atmospheric boiling point 1 and the desired re-action by which lower boiling point products are formed may therefore be carried out. v

In the form of apparatu's illustrated in Figure 2 as well as in that showzhin Figure 1, it will be noted that the oil'in'th heated zone is maintained under a considerable liquid pressure or head, whichflifead becomes slowly reduced as the oil passes toward the vapor release drum. The temperature of the oil-body will likewise, in generah'decrease, owing to'radiation from the front riser 15 or coil 33: By properly propor-.

tioning the radiating surface, the reduction in temperature of the foil may be made to correspond to the drop in pressure along the line of its flow, so that no considerable evo-' lution of gas within the moving liquidbody will takeplace,

In the form of apparatus shown in Figure 2, as well as in that shown in Figure 1,

the pressure within the heated zone may be" '.created and maintained not only by the liquid head, but also by the imposition of a gas pressure upon the free surface of the oil within the release drum. I

While I have shown and described .in considerable detail two specific forms of apparatus for carrying out my invention, together with the preferred manner of o eration, it will be understood that this 1s illustrative only, and for the purpose of mak-- ing clearthe nature and mode of application of the invention, but I do not regard the invention as limited to the details of construction or procedure described, except in so far as such limitations are included within the terms of the accompanying claims, in which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as is permissible in view of the prior art.

What I claim as new and'desire to secure.

by Letters Patent is:

1.The improvement in the art of treating petroleum oils to efiect 'the pyrogenetic decomposition thereof, which consists in.

passing the oils under treatment through a heated zone while maintaining them under perature to effect pyrogenetic decomposi-' tion thereof, and through a cooling zone,

maintaining a substantial pressure of superimposed liquid upon the oil substantially throughout the heating zone, and gradually reducing such pressure within the cooling zone.

3. The process of treating petroleum oils which consists in circulating such oils successively through a heating zone at a temperature to effect pyrogenetic decomposition thereof, and through a cooling zone, maintaining a substantial pressure of superimposed liquid upon the 011 within the heating zone and gradually reducing such pressure in proportion to the lowered temperature as the oil passes through the cooling zone.

4. The process of treating petroleum oils which consists in circulating such oils successively through a heating zone at a temperature to efi'ect pyrogenetic decomposition thereof,-a cooling zone and a vapor release drum, maintaining a substantial liquid pressure within the heating zone, whereby evolution of vapors therein is prevented, gradually reducing such pressure within the cooling zone, and relievin such pressure within the vapor release rum to permit evolution of vapors therein.

5. The process of treating relatively high boiling point petroleum oils for the production therefrom of relatively low boiling point oils, which consists in passing the high boiling point oils through a heat ing zone while under a substantial liquid pressure sufiicient to prevent the evolution of vapors at the temperature required for decomposition of the oil, passing the decomposed oil through a coolin zone in which the pressure is gradually re need in proportion to the reduction in temperature, and

finally bringing the oil stream to such a temperature and pressure as to permit the evolution of the vapors of the lower boiling point products. f

6. The process of treating petroleum oils which consists in maintaining a circulating system containing such oils under the pressure of the products of distillation thereof and passing the oils within the system through a heating zone at a cracking temperature while under an additional and substantial liquid pressure substantially main tained' throughout said heating zone.

7. The improvement in the art of treating hydro-carbon oils to eflecttheir pyro enetic decomposition, which comprises estab ishing a supply of oil at a relatively elevated position, feeding oil from said supply to and through a confined passage in a heating zone below the same, heating the oil in passing through said heating zone to a cracking temperature, a portion of the product issuing from the heating zone being retained in the oil supply, continuously returning to the heating zone from the said supply said portion of the product issuing from the heating zone, maintaining the heating zone and supply chamber under the pressure of products of distillation, the heating zone being under an additional and substantial liquid pressure of products from the supply.

8. The process of treating petroleum'oils for the conversion of relatively high boiling point oils into relatively low boiling point oils which consists in applying heat to a liquid body of such high boiling point oils while maintaining the said liquid body under a substantial pressure exerted by the liquid itself and not by a gaseous atmosphere in contact with the surface of the liquid. y

9. The process of treating petroleum'oils which consists in maintaining a circulating system filled with such oils under the pressure of the products of distillation thereof and passing the oils' within the system through a heatingzone while maintaining them under an additional and substantial liquid pressure sufficient to prevent substantial evolution of vapors therefrom.

10. The process of treating petroleum oils for the conversion of relatively high boiling point oils into relatively low boiling pointoils which consists in applying heat to a liquid body of such high boiling point oils while maintaining the said liquid body under a substantial pressure exerted by the liquid itself and not by a gaseous atmosphere coming in contact with the surface of the liquid, said pressure being sufficient to prevent substantial evolution of vapors therefrom.

11. An apparatus for the treatment of petroleum oils and comprising a circulatory system including a pump, a heating zone, a

cooling zone, a vapor release drum, and a communication between the vapor release drum and the pump, the parts being arranged in the order specified with relation to the passage of the liquid therethrough.

CHARLES S..PALl\mR. Witness: t

F. H. ALLISON. 

